


They Crossed a Bridge (aka i write a whole page using a confusing metaphor)

by jadedragonfly



Category: Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Symbolism, the characters are there just no names used, there's a fandom for this i--
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 01:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18273251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadedragonfly/pseuds/jadedragonfly





	They Crossed a Bridge (aka i write a whole page using a confusing metaphor)

They crossed a bridge.  
The little boy with the mulberry colored-birthmark reached out with the hands of innocence and pushed them forward.  
That was one step.  
They formed a circle, a fighting, biting circle, celebrating the rawness of death  
and the darkened boards creaked under their feet.  
The spears that stabbed out from the circle pushed forward a few stragglers, those who did not like the look of the other side, yet got swept along with those who did not connect what was past the bridge to the concept of it that they thought they shunned.  
Innocence had trailed after them, and now dropped to hang beneath the bridge, trailing fingers beneath their feet before dragging down the aforementioned stragglers, embracing them and at the same time letting them fall to their deaths.  
One of the ones left watched them go. He was the only one who saw, saw that they had actually just tripped on the spears dragging behind the boys ahead.  
He turned back, to the other side, to where the dark had not leached the light from the ground, the air.  
But when he turned forwards again the others had already reached the other side, and their leering faces, masked by darkness, made him want to run, but behind him it seemed as though boards had dropped away along with the lost souls, and he could not cross. And they got closer and closer, and the darkness seemed to get darker around with every step they took, and it started to choke him and he gasped for air--  
\--stepped backward, about to fall--  
\--and found that the bridge was whole, and his momentum and that of those following him caused them to fall over each other, ending up on the other side where someone else stood, looking down at them, and they looked back at the dark and shuddered closer together as the sun sprawled its rays over them, and the person who stood above them looked into the dark and quickly looked away, pretending he had not seen the bridge at all.  
And they followed him, but as they looked back, pushing their hair away from their eyes with shadow-webbed fingers, they saw the flicker of fire along the creepers-- no, those were ropes, they blinked multiple times, yes, ropes  
that reached out in shadowy knots around their wrists and ankles for the rest of their lives.


End file.
